GERMAN Chancellor, Angela Merkel 'must tell the truth' over the dire situation in Greece, the leader of the opposition has warned.

Peer Steinbrueck called for the Chancellor to come clean on the situation and admit that Germany will be paying for Greece's debts for a very long time.

He said: "The chancellor must finally tell the German people the truth: Greece will not be able to borrow money on the capital markets in the coming seven or eight years. We will have to help it until then."

Steinbrueck launched a tirade over Merkel's dealings with Greece claiming the Chancellor should stop stalling and just admit that the nation needs more help.

He told Die Welt Am Sonntag newspaper: "In the case of Greece, we cannot tighten the screws any further. The Greeks must stand by their commitments, but we must also give them more time."

The Social Democrats - Germany's main opposition party to Merkel's Christian Democrats, appointed Steinbrueck, who has similar political leanings to those of French President Francois Hollande as their candidate for Chancellor.

The chancellor must finally tell the German people the truth

Peer Steinbrueck

Steinbrueck, who favours even closer integration between eurozone members, to have a common EU debt insurance, and to have a closer fiscal union claimed that Germany should be ready to provide aid to Greece for some time to come.

Angela Merkel has so far led an austere campaign against the Greek nation and is cool on the idea of providing the country with further international aid.

Meanwhile according to the latest poll carried out by Bild am Sonntag newspaper, 63 percent of Germans believe that Angela Merkel will be re-elected as German chancellor in the 2013 parliamentary elections.